By Fergal Smith
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock market index fell on Friday, taking its weekly loss to nearly 3%, as a selloff in high-flying technology shares continued, while the Canadian dollar rallied as domestic jobs data added to evidence of economic recovery.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (GSPTSE) closed down 1.4% at 16,218.01, after paring earlier losses.
It was the second consecutive day of volatile trading for the TSX and other North American indexes, which had been on a tear since March. For the week, the TSX was down 2.9%, its biggest weekly decline since June.
"The market sell-off has been driven by technology names which have fallen in sympathy with U.S. counterparts and equity markets in general," said Ben Jang, a portfolio manager at Nicola Wealth. "Profit-taking is not surprising given the recent outsized returns in technology."
Shares of commerce platform provider Shopify Inc <.SHOP.TO>, Canada's largest company by market capitalization, fell 4.5%.
The information technology sector (SPTTTK) was down 3.3%, while the materials group (GSPTTMT) dropped 1.3% as shares of gold mining companies lost ground.
Gold (XAU) rose 0.2% to $1,934 an ounce, while the price of oil (CLc1), one of Canada's major exports, settled 3.9% lower at $39.77 a barrel as fears of a slow economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic compounded worries about weak oil demand.
Canada added 245,800 jobs in August, the fourth consecutive monthly increase though the pace of gains slowed, bringing employment within about a million jobs of pre-pandemic levels, Statistics Canada said.
"Overall, a roughly-as-expected report that supports the recovery story but also highlights the long journey faced by the economy to return to pre-COVID levels of employment and production," said Ryan Brecht, a senior economist at Action Economics.
The Canadian dollar was trading 0.6% higher at 1.3050 to the greenback, or 76.63 U.S. cents, clawing back much of the prior day's decline. For the week, the loonie was up 0.4%. On Tuesday it notched a near-eight-month high at 1.2990.
Strategists are growing more bullish on prospects for the Canadian dollar as global economic activity rebounds from the coronavirus crisis, a Reuters poll showed.
Canadian government bond yields were higher across a steeper curve in sympathy with U.S. Treasuries. The 10-year (CA10YT=RR) was up 5.8 basis points at 0.597%, after hitting on Thursday its lowest intraday level in more than three weeks at 0.518%.
Canada's bond and stock markets will be closed on Monday for the Labour Day holiday. The Bank of Canada is due to make an interest rate announcement on Wednesday.